Suggestions for Music Streaming Solution (Hardware) for Media Portal (1 Viewer)

[TiredHornet]

Hi,

I have just moved into a bigger flat and would like to add a second client to my MediaPortal setup. My current/planned setup is 1 Server running OMV with all the media stored on it plus a Windows 7 based client for media playback in the living room. I would like to add one or more pure music streaming MediaPortal clients.

Does it make sense to build a MediaPortal client just for listing to music? Or should I just stream music using DLNA and buy a client that supports DLNA. Do you have any suggestions for the client?

All suggestions are highly welcome.

Cheers
TiredHornet

 

[johanj]

Do you want the music to play in sync in every room? I'm not sure that MediaPortal is the best option if that is the case since I do not think it can handle synced playback. I use Squeezeboxes for music and MediaPortal for all other media. So it depends what your other needs are.

 

[TiredHornet]

Well having them all in sync would be nice and I already read that it is not possible with MediaPortal. So I'll have to look for something like a Squeezebox or build something based on a RasberryPi. Not sure If they can do synced playback though.

 

[johanj]

Squeezeboxes handle synced playback. I have currently three zones(two duett and one radio) but plan to add additional ones further on. They cost little and has support for spotify, the later is my main usage. They have good apps for control. Drawback is that they are discontinued, not sure if one can get them anymore. I know that the replacement model of Radio had backward support of squeezecenter. Software client for a pc exist, I have also seen a project for Rasperry pi.

Also Sonos seems to be a good solution for multiroom control, I have only heard positive things about them. They used to be more expensive than squeezeboxes though.

I would go for a dedicated hardware solution in order to have a solid solution.

 

[Charlie TV]

Just to add to the Squeezebox details above, the base software (Logitech Media Server - LMS) is open and you can run software clients like squeezeplay and various headless software. So you can use any hardware to run the base software (windows/linux) and run the client software on the same box or other hardware. (windows/linux).

You can then control the clients with your iphone or via a web browser. I have MP and LMS on the same box, LMS is pretty resource little and I can easily have MP driving HD to the tv, while playing music to different rooms in sync. It also has good plugin developer support even if Logitech have abandoned it, google; Ipeng, Spicefly and Erland for further interesting stuff.

 

[el-Dia]

Another interesting option is the Rocki Play (http://www.myrocki.com/)
I do not own one yet but I'm looking to buy the upcoming "+" edition (output to HDMI & toslink in addition to analog output) for use with my old Logitech z5400.

For Music i use Spotify (through Rockstar plugin in MP) and local files on a "NAS".
So far, I haven't had the need to send Music from MP to the z5400 wirelessly. But if a soundcard driver or a program would send the audio (stream) as with bluetooth, wirelessly, it could be a Nice option to avoid a long optic cable between the MP and z5400.

For now the Rocki Play seems to appear as a Spotify Connect Device, a uPnP/DLNA receiver (and airplay Device?) on the network.

 

[TiredHornet]

Just to update. I settled for a Sonos-like solution from the German speaker manufacturer Teufel. It's called Raumfeld and while not quite as smooth as Sonos to use, it does allow for HiRes multiroom streaming. I only have a couple of HiRes albums, but it is nice that I don't have to convert these. Of course Raumfeld doesn't work from inside MP but it would probably be possible to make an plugin since Raumfeld uses uPnP.